Justice News

Law Enforcement Hosts Second Faith-Based Security Summit

DALLAS — The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas, the FBI’s Dallas Division and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Dallas hosted their second Faith-Based Security Summit today for area faith-based leaders.

“Our goal is to provide places of worship in north Texas with the tools necessary to achieve that delicate balance between maintaining an open and welcoming environment and a secure one,” said U.S. Attorney Parker. “While barring the door is not an option, increased vigilance and self-awareness as a community are absolutely essential.”

Approximately 100 leaders from faith-based communities throughout north Texas attended today’s summit that was held in the auditorium at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas.

The first Summit, held at the FBI’s Dallas Field Office on February 9, 2016, focused on providing general information and tools to assist faith-based leaders in developing security programs, protocols and emergency action plans.

Today’s summit built on that foundation to provide attendees with specific tools and information to critically evaluate and if necessary, revise, their emergency protocols or Emergency Action Plan. Following an overview from an expert from the Department of Homeland Security, most of the Summit was led by FBI experts who used a “tabletop exercise” to demonstrate various security threat scenarios and advised responses at three different houses of worship.